Plasma propagation phenomena in long discharge tubes, plasma jets, and plasma display panels

Summary form only given. The plasma propagations are observed in various discharge plasmas such as the long discharge tubes, the plasma jet devices, and the plasma display panels. Using the optical fiber amplifiers in the long discharge tubes of fluorescent lamps, the lighting signals are measured to propagate with the velocity of 10 5 ∼10 6 m/s. 1 In the plasma jet devices measured with the ICCD camera and the optical fiber amplifiers, the plasma propagation as the form of plasma bullet is observed to be the speed of 10 4 ∼10 5 m/s. 2 In the plasma display panels of micro discharge with ICCD camera, the plasma is observed to be expanding with the velocity of 10 3 m/s on the coplanar electrode surface. 3 The propagation speed of plasmas is dependent of the plasma scale, where the speed increases as the plasma scale increases. Therefore, the speed of micro-discharge plasmas in plasma display panel is relatively slow, while the plasma propagation speed of the plasma jet devices with a few centimeter scales increases considerably. Moreover, the plasma propagation speed of the plasma column of long discharge tube having the scale of several tens of centimeters is much faster. The propagation phenomena are described with the electrostatic plasma waves including the plasma diffusion due to the plasma density gradient. The diffusion velocity is solved to be dependent of plasma scales which are related to the plasma diffusion waves in each plasma devices.